


3001

by VerdanaWebster20X



Category: Futurama
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Drinking, Drinking Games, Excessive Drinking, Fluff and Angst, Fry being stupid, Gen, How is there not a Fry & Leela & Bender tag?, I mean Bender's there so that shouldn't be surprising, Illustrations, Implied/Referenced Attempted Suicide, Mid-Season 2, Mild Language, New Year's Eve, Post- Xmas Story, Reference to the Pilot, Self-Reflection, no beta we die like men, post-Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28474209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VerdanaWebster20X/pseuds/VerdanaWebster20X
Summary: It's the first New Year's Eve since Fry awoke in the future. After a year of questionable space deliveries, robotic roommates, Slurm, and All my circuits, a certain trio consisting of a cyclops, robot, and out of his time human take a moment to look back and reflect.
Relationships: Philip J. Fry & Bender Rodriguez, Philip J. Fry & Turanga Leela, Philip J. Fry & Turanga Leela & Bender Rodriguez
Comments: 7
Kudos: 5





	3001

**Author's Note:**

> I've only watched up till the end of Season 3 of Futurama, but I'm slowly making my way up. (I have heard something about a dog episode though and how depressing it is.) HOW HAVE I NOT WATCHED THIS SHOW TILL NOW!??

It was Dec. 31st, and the final day of the year 3000. The overall feeling of euphoria that had enveloped The Planet Express crew after surviving another year of Xmas had begun to fade, only to be unexpectedly replaced by thoughtfulness as a certain cyclops, robot, and out of his time human look back on the year and contemplate on what brought them here.

*********

It had been a whole year since Turanga Leela became a job deserter. She continued to muse in her designated chair in the planet express meeting room as she watched her coworkers make fools of themselves. The boys had suggested to throw a New Year’s Eve Party in celebration for the New Year and their anniversary as Planet Express Employees. Leela had her suspicions that it was really so they could have an excuse to get everyone shitfaced drunk so they can avoid work the next day due to everyone recovering from wicked hangovers. Still, it wasn’t like she had anything else planned so she held her tongue, leading to her sitting at the table chatting with Amy with Nibbler in her lap and enjoying the festivities.

 _‘It’s more than what I had planned last year.’_ She quietly thought to herself _. ‘Last year, I was just gonna head to the nearest bar and grab a drink with my coworkers once I finished the last of my fate assignments. Not exactly glamorous.’_ Leela continued to absentmindedly scratch Nibblers' head, her eye trailing towards a certain ginger human that had accidentally turned her life upside down. She had to resist the urge to roll her eye when she saw him challenge Bender to see who can chug several bottles of beer the fastest.

“Seriously I know he can be stupid sometimes, but c’mon.” She muttered to Amy, who giggled and began to watch the pair drink themselves stupid while being goaded on by their employers.

**_You gotta do what you gotta do_ **

She had followed that motto for years. She didn’t question it, because no one else did. When she was given the job of Fate Assignment Officer at Applied Cryogenics, she quietly accepted it with dignity and fulfilled her role dutifully. The job wasn’t even necessarily that difficult, the biggest issues she faced were mainly dealing with the occasional (and unfortunately often) jackass ogling her one eye. That all changed when she was given the assignment of an accidental Cryo patient from the year 1999.

 _“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone make that big of a fuss in fate assignments before.”_ And she hadn’t, because almost everyone known had grown with the system and accepted the idea that that was just life. Most people who come out of cryo-stasis are those who either were infected with a disease that they hoped the future would have the cure of or simply wanting to wake up in a better time. That’s how it had been and that’s how she thought it would always be.

“CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!” The boys chanting smashed through her thoughts, drawing her attention back to the two dumb-asses. This time she really did roll her eye, but not before trying and failing to repress a fond smile.

 _“That was until Fry, came in and began questioning everything.”_ Leela snickered to herself when she saw Fry topple over, clearly having overestimating his own tolerance to alcohol or underestimating Bender’s. She gave her head a small shake before turning back to chat with Amy, a content smile on her face.

**********

It had been a whole year since Bender entered that suicide booth and met his best friend. He glanced down at the man in question. The meat bag had his back on the floor, letting out a pathetic groan.

_“HA!!!_ In your face, idiot! Never challenge a robot to a drinking contest! They always win.” Bender gloated triumphantly to his roommate, doing a little victory jig. He got another pitiful groan in response. He stopped dancing to look back down at the dumb flesh tube. Bender offered a hand to pull him up, with the thought, _“Not really fun to rub it in his face if he’s not coherent enough to be embarrassed.”_ -running through his head.

Fry gave him a short glare, eyes unfocused before accepting the offering. He heaved the drunk ginger up, nearly falling over in the process because of the human’s shit coordination.

 _“After a year living together, you’d think he’d know better.”_ Bender heard Fry mumble a small “Thanks,” before stumbling away, heading vaguely in the direction of a window. Bender turned back to the table, snatching another beer and guzzling it down while quietly mulling over his thoughts. _“Feels longer than that. I guess after all the shit we’ve done and pulled together, it’s to be expected.”_ He rummaged through his memory banks until he landed on his first time meeting Fry while waiting in line for a suicide booth. Not really the best first impression, for either party. 

Bender’s sensors caught Dr. Zoidberg eyeing the other bottles of booze. Without missing a beat, the bending unit began shoveling the remaining bottles into his chest cavity and walked away. He heard the crustacean make an audible “Aw.” In disappointment. He snickered evilly to himself, finishing off his last drink with a fiery belch. His memory bank continued running.

_“And then the idiot saved me.”_ That had taken Bender by surprise, even leaving him temporally mute. When he came into the suicide booth after Fry tried dialing his relatives, Bender just assumed Fry was being an incompetent and stupid. That view only increased when the human accidentally picked the “Slow and Painful” option and began freaking out. But then, without warning Fry pushed himself and Bender out of harm, saving them both. With his attempt to off himself thwarted, he took the meat bag out for drinks as a way to say thanks. This led to him being bombarded with questions that he was sure human toddlers knew the answers to. Then he found out Fry had been frozen since the 20th century.

 _“Tough break, buddy.”_ Was what he said, and yeah it was. After he had what he thought was one last drink he tried to go back to finish the job, only to be stopped once again- except this time, it was his decision.

_"You really want a robot as a friend?"_

He shot a glance over his shoulder. His scanners combing over the heads of his fellow freaks before finally settling by the window. It appeared that Fry managed to find his way after all. From where Bender was standing, he could tell that he seemed to be holding himself up by leaning against the glass.

_“Yeah, ever since I was six.”_

Bender was not a good person. He knew that. Even before he had decided to ignore his programming and bend whatever he wanted, he wasn’t great. In his short time being online he’s pretty sure he might’ve gotten worse in some ways after gaining his first friend.

“Five more minutes left!” Hermes called out, snapping Bender back to reality. He checked his internal clock to confirm.

**11:55 P.M.**

Bender shot another look at Fry. He hadn’t moved from earlier. A moment later he thought, that maybe, in some ways he had also gotten better. Even now he still felt uncomfortable with his involvement in the mass production of suicide booths. If he had never been made Fry’s friend, he would’ve been just another of hundreds of clients callously wiped from existence. He opened up his chest to snag another beer until he heard the Professor pipe up.

“What happened to all my booze!?” Professor Farnsworth cried behind him. Bender started to whistle inconspicuously.

*******

It had been a whole year since Philip J. Fry woke up in the year 3000 and had his life changed. Fry leaned further into the cold glass, doing his best to not keel over. He pressed his forehead into the cool window pane in an attempt to will away some of his tipsiness.

 _“Alright, not one of my brightest ideas.”_ Even he had to admit that. He sometimes forgot he was in the year 3000 and not the 1990’s. It didn’t happen as often as it did earlier in the year, it’d just pop up now in again. But could you blame him, he spent his whole life living in the 20th century only to literally take a tumble and fall into the future.

 _“Anyone would have issues fully adapting.”_ Is what he kept telling himself. He found what he guessed was the Applied Cryogenics building (He actually wasn’t sure, most of these future buildings look the same) and tore his eyes away.

 _“I wonder what it was like for mom, dad, and Yancy living in the early 21 st century.” _Fry thought dully, his inebriated brain going to places that he often tried to avoid when sober. He wondered _‘Were they happy?’_ , _‘Were they just as amazed as I have been?_ ’, and _‘Did they miss me?’_ That last thought made his chest seize, and he knew it wasn’t because of the beer. He heard someone say something about the booze and a faint whistling. Fry paid it no mind, keeping his face firmly towards the window.

 _“What would it be like if I stayed?”_ The question is something he had wondered before. Would he have been happy? Would he get a new girlfriend or maybe reconcile with his old one (again)? Get a better job perhaps? Get married? Fry had wondered these things before, only to run himself into a circle by never truly gaining an answer.

 _“Or would I be just as miserable and nothing would’ve changed?”_ Another real possibility. Before falling into cryo-stasis, he had been very unhappy with his life. The idea that he would’ve continued living a miserable life into the early 2000’s could’ve been and probably was a very likely reality. Fry even celebrated being in the year 3000 where everyone he had ever met was dead before the utter weight of that truth had caught up to him.

“One minute left!” Hermes called. Fry blinked, in confusion not properly registering the meaning behind those words or what Hermes was referring to. One minute for what again? He began to push himself off the window so he can ask just that, forgetting for a moment that he was shitfaced drunk. He seemed to have overestimated the amount of strength he needed to use and almost tumbled back down to reunite with the floor before being caught by a pair of arms. He shot his own out to regain his balance, realizing that the pair of arms belonged to two different individuals.

“Wow Fry, I didn’t think you were this much of a lightweight.” He heard Bender’s familiar chuckle emanate from his left side.

“Be nice, he did down almost four cans of beer.” Leela chastised the robot, earning an irritated huff from the bot.

Fry managed to properly gain his balance by hooking his arms around his friends in a sort of hug. One around Bender's cold metal shoulder, and the other around Leela’s warm and toned one. Once Fry eventually regained his balance, he made no move to remove them. Neither did the other two, their own arms still kept loosely wrapped around his back.

 _“Would I want to go back?”_ Fry had asked himself that before too. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure because in some ways, this life _is_ better than his old one. He had friends, he travelled space, and he even kind of enjoyed his job ( _sometimes_ , some missions made him really hate it.) Yes, he still missed his family and mourned his old life. He’s sure he always will. But...

“Twenty seconds left.” Hermes announced.

“Here’s to another lousy millennium.” Fry joked, a lopsided grin on his face. Maybe it was the booze making him hallucinate, but he could’ve sworn he heard Leela snort. Fry felt his grin widen.

**_10_ **

**_9_ **

**_8_ **

**_7_ **

**_6_ **

**_5_ **

**_4_ **

**_3_ **

**_2_ **

**_1_ **

Red and green fireworks blasted through the night sky, creating a sparkling symphony of explosions overpowering the sound of party goers and technology.

“I didn’t know that fireworks were still a thing.” Fry exclaimed to no one in particular.

“Course they are, stupid. A bunch of explosions in the sky, why would we get rid of ‘em?” Bender snipped without any real venom. Without warning, another group of fireworks blasted into the sky, forming a number.

_3001_

“Happy new year!!!”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy New Year!!! I'll see ya in 2021!  
> \- This turned out way longer than I had planned.  
> \- Fry: Yeah robots run off of alcohol but who would win in a drinking contest?" Fry is a dumbass and we love him for it.  
> \- Bender is a sore winner but he loves his bestie, Fry.  
> \- Poor Zoidberg.  
> \- *Fry telling Bender he's been frozen for 1,000 years and everyone he knows is dead* *Bender: That's rough buddy."  
> \- Bender *openly wants to commit genocide on humanity, still a likable character*  
> \- The Professor: What happened to my booze?!" Bender: F**k."  
> \- Fry being sad for five minutes  
> \- Leela is muscular, don't @ me.


End file.
